General Chicago Outfit Info Dumping Ground

[funkster]

Has anyone heard of this story before?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mafia/s/oXlYvv99Ah

Nope. I’ll be honest, this seems like another Boka manifestation. Either that or some deranged guy trying to troll whoever the guy is in the photos he’s posting.

The poster says that he was “told” by a Federal agent that this alleged “James Yantis” is really named “James DiVanti”. There’s no record for anyone of that name in IL. In fact, “DiVanti” isn’t even an Italian name (it reads like one of those fake Italian names for a mobster in a video game or something). No records for a guy using the name “James Yantis” from Chicagoland that would match the guy described by this poster either. The poster also says that he was told by investigators that “DiVanti” was tied to Tim Durham, the former CEO of National Lampoon. He basically claims that Durham was mobbed up. Durham was convicted in 2012 for running a huge Ponzi scheme and nothing that I have seen about it even suggested any ties to the mob.

And the guy is saying that he was involved in helping this “DiVanti” put money in the commissary for Jimmy Marcello, and further claims that “DiVanti” is the cousin of Vinny Basciano. The *only* thing that would give me pause on that last claim is that the Bascianos actually could have some connection to Chicago, though I’ve seen nothing indicating that they have relatives there (I know a couple of things about the Bascianos and I’d be very interested to know if they in fact have relatives in Chicago, but if they do I’ve seen no evidence of it). In 2016, when Vinny Basciano Jr appealed his conviction for marijuana trafficking (he had been convicted in 2014 along with his brothers Stephen and Joseph, along with Sal Larca and several other co-defendants), he was represented by a Chicago attorney, Paul Camerena.

Now, there isn’t exactly a lack of lawyers in NYC and you don’t typically see a New York guy hiring a Chicago lawyer. Not sure what the story was there, but it *could* point to something. The Basciano kids were connected to Sal Larca, and the Bronx Genovese guys did have a connection to Chicago via Dom Cirillo, at least. I do know personally of a couple of families in the East Bronx with relatives in Chicago and even a guy from Cicero living here (not saying that any of these people are mobbed up, as I don’t know that. Just that there are, from my anecdotal experience, some Italian families in the Bronx with relatives in Chicago. If I know of a couple myself, there are going to be some others as well, but it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that there are a few cases like this).

Good stuff. Lol guy in the pics definitely looks like a douche bro, so that should be the first question mark.